In re the Marriage of Eidlin

916 P.2d 338, 140 Or. App. 479, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 631
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 1, 1996
DocketC922705DR; CA A85652
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 916 P.2d 338 (In re the Marriage of Eidlin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Marriage of Eidlin, 916 P.2d 338, 140 Or. App. 479, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 631 (Or. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

RIGGS, P. J.

Husband appeals from a post-dissolution judgment that increased the amount of his spousal support obligation to wife and increased its duration from five years to an indefinite period. We modify the judgment to decrease the duration of that obligation to seven years and otherwise affirm.

On September 2, 1993, when their stipulated judgment of marital dissolution was entered, the parties were both 47 years old and had been married for 21 years. They have three children who were then ages 19, 16 and 13. The parties agreed to joint custody of the two younger children, who reside primarily with wife. The oldest child attends college and has intermittently resided with each parent, but for purposes of child support calculations the parties stipulated that he lives with husband.

Wife is a speech therapist employed in a permanent full-time position with the Beaverton school district. Husband is a mining engineer and, since 1992, an attorney. Before their separation, the parties and their children lived in a large, six-bedroom, three-bath home located on approximately one-quarter acre in southwest Portland. Having accumulated substantial assets and few debts, they enjoyed a comfortable standard of living. Wife continues to live in the family home.

Under the terms of the stipulated judgment of dissolution, each party paid one-half of the oldest child’s college expenses and husband paid $575 per month as child support for the younger children, based on the child support guidelines. At the time the judgment was entered, wife’s gross monthly salary was $2,534. Husband had recently graduated from law school and was working for Tri-Met as a Project Manager on a temporary, four-month contract with a gross monthly salary of $5,160.1 That contract was set to expire within a few weeks of the stipulated agreement, and husband had not yet secured future employment.

[482]*482The parties agreed that husband would pay wife $100 per month as spousal support, for a period of five years. They also stipulated that

“[husband] has recently obtained temporary employment. The amount and duration of [husband’s] spousal support obligation to [wife] is subject to modification if [husband] obtains apparently ‘permanent’ employment that would have supported a different award of spousal support had he been so employed at the time of entry of this Judgment of Dissolution. Such employment shall constitute a substantial change of circumstances unanticipated at the time of the entry of this judgment sufficient to form the basis of a modification of spousal support.”

After the stipulated judgment was entered, husband was hired to work as a permanent Project Manager for Tri-Met, with a monthly salary of $4,289.

In January 1994, husband filed a motion to modify the judgment to decrease his child support obligation in the light of his reduced income. Wife then moved to increase the amount and duration of spousal support paid by husband. The motions were consolidated and heard in June and July. The trial court concluded that there had been a substantial change in the parties’ circumstances. After finding that husband’s gross monthly income is now $4,289 and wife’s gross monthly income is now $2,699, the court awarded wife indefinite spousal support in the sum of $500 per month, to begin on August 1,1994.2

Husband assigns error to the trial court’s conclusions that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred and that wife is entitled to support that is increased in both amount and duration. He contends that, because his monthly salary has decreased $871 per month — from $5,160 to $4,289 — and wife’s has increased $165 per month — from $2,534 to $2,699 — there is no basis for increasing his support obligation to wife.

[483]*483Husband’s first argument is that we should reject the modification or “future review” provision that is contained in the stipulated dissolution judgment, because it obviates the statutory change of circumstances rule, ORS 107.135.3 As noted above, the parties stipulated that a change in circumstances justifying a modification of wife’s spousal support award will be deemed to have occurred if (1) husband obtains apparently permanent employment; and (2) that employment would have supported a different award, had husband been so employed at the time of the original judgment. We understand husband’s argument to be that that stipulation establishes a less onerous standard for modification than does the statute’s “change in economic circumstances” requirement.

Even assuming, that the parties’ stipulation provides a more permissive basis for seeking modification than does the statute, that alone does not require that the stipulation be disregarded. “Agreements made in anticipation of a dissolution are generally enforceable and accepted by the court when they are equitable given the circumstances of the case.” McDonnal and McDonnal, 293 Or 772, 778, 652 P2d 1247 (1982); see also Porter and Porter, 100 Or App 401, 404, 786 P2d 740, rev den 310 Or 281 (1990) (“Courts should enforce, not disturb, negotiated settlement agreements, unless there is an overriding public policy reason for not doing so.”). By incorporating stipulations into a judgment of dissolution, a court may approve and ratify parties’ voluntary agreements as to spousal support, so long as the agreements are not unfair to either party, McDonnal, 293 Or at 778, and do not deprive a court of its “authority to modify an award even when changed circumstances would require such a modification [.]”Hearn and Hearn, 128 Or App 259, 264, 875 P2d 508 (1994) (citing McDonnal); see also Barron and Barron, 85 Or App 278, 283, 736 P2d 583 (1987) (written settlement agreement, incorporated into dissolution judgment, can authorize [484]*484modification court to review the question of spousal support without a showing of changed circumstances). In sum, in the absence of adverse public policy considerations, parties can make it easier to obtain a modification by agreeing to additional grounds therefor, but their stipulations cannot remove the court’s authority to modify a spousal support award on the bases that are articulated in ORS 107.135. Although a court is not required to accept parties’ stipulated agreements as to what will constitute a change of circumstances, McDonnal, 293 Or at 778, the trial court’s decision to do so here was proper because the agreement is neither unfair nor does it “conflict with the statutory powers of the court.” Id. at 779. It merely ensures that a specific type of change in husband’s employment will be an adequate basis for seeking a modification of wife’s spousal support award. The court did not err in giving effect to “the intent of the parties as reflected in [their] incorporated settlement agreement.” Id. Accordingly, we turn to husband’s argument that the second of the two requirements contained in that agreement was not met.

Husband contends that his new job is not employment that “would have supported a different award of spousal support,” had he been so employed at the time of the parties’ divorce.

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Bluebook (online)
916 P.2d 338, 140 Or. App. 479, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-eidlin-orctapp-1996.